Garden Director, Joseph Maiden planted a collection of Japanese garden plants which included bamboos, iris, conifers and acers here in 1917.
By the 1920s the planting had become known as the Japanese Garden and a pergola, stone lanterns made by Domain Stonemason, Mr FJ Read and two trellis to enable the display of the Garden’s growing collection of wisteria had been added.
The garden as we know it today opened in 1997 and was made possible with generous support from HSBC. It was designed by Ian Innes and constructed by the Garden’s team of landscape gardeners.
The HSBC Oriental Garden features more than 2.400 examples of wild and cultivated plants from East Asia, including China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan and Bhutan. One of its most delightful features is the wisteria arbour, designed to highlight a range of rare wisteria collected and donated to the Garden by plant pathologist Peter Valder.
Create your own Asiatic display in your home garden
Many of the plants on display in the HSBC Oriental Garden have never been seen in Australia before – it’s a great place to gain inspiration for your home garden. Visit the Growing Friends page to see the Asiatic plants they have available for sale.